“The more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled.― Paulo Freire

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German diary: some exciting findings!

Following Sandy’s suggestion I started using Menrise as well. It is basically similar to Duolingo in many ways, especially because it uses a translation approach to learning.

I reckon that using Duolingo and Menrise to learn vocabulary won’t hurt and it has been proven useful. I started recognizing more words I encounter, but not as quick as I wished for. The translation approach doesn’t bug me at all but I don’t believe that one learns to communicate without using the language in real and meaningful interactions. So far, the apps serve to help me notice aspects of grammar and learn vocabulary. I’m not able though to use them productively except for some formulaic language like Sehr gut! Das it gut! or sentences like Ich bin glücklich. Ich heiße Rose. Few of them comes to mind but not without giving some thought.

STORIES

One of the things I like doing is reading or listening to audiobooks. I think stories are powerful to aid language learning and I’d love to be able to read stories in German like I do in English. By learning vocabulary with the apps above and reading children’s story, I believe that grammar will fall into place.

Today, I discovered two wonderful authors. Philipp Winterberg writes children’s book, bilingual editions of English-German and André Klein wrote a great series of books called Learn German through storytelling. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks like a wonderful approach.

Wow! I wish this kind of material was available in English for my learners. Is there any out there? I better delve into storytelling. My skills in that area is still a bit timid.